House Blend: Clean Streak

They say cleanliness is next to godliness, but it seems the more spiritual I am, the messier my home. I’ve noticed a definite connection between the hours spent praying, walking, meditating and just “being” and the hours spent scrubbing, vacuuming, mopping and dusting. The more mindful and contemplative I am, the less inclined I am to pick up a spray bottle, sponge or Swiffer.

I mean there are only so many hours in a day, right? And while I appreciate and love my home, and want it to be clean, I also love staring into space, being so in the now, so relaxed and present that the only thing that snaps me out of this blissful state is the drool slipping down my chin.

I am not alone in this. More than a few of my friends are noticing the spiritual vs. spic-and-span dilemma, especially those who have moved recently. Their unpacked boxes remain untouched, lining the baseboards of their living room and hallways.

We have finally got the hang of this “let it go, go with the flow” attitude and are reaping the healthy benefits of it, but our cleaning habits are slipping. How do we combine the Yin of peace and calm (drooling) with the Yang of energy and change (cleaning)? Can we be present, spiritual, unhurried and still get the house shipshape — even during the über cleaning ritual known as spring cleaning, which involves steam and white vinegar?

Well, if I can successfully meditate (let go of my thoughts for 5 to 20 minutes) then anything’s possible. So here are a few suggestions or steps to take, if you’re more Yang today than Yin:

1. The Slow-Clean Movement.You’ve heard of the slow-food movement — eating and drinking slowly, taking time to savor and taste our food without shoveling it in. Take this philosophy and apply it to housecleaning. Adopt a no-rush attitude. Admire the beauty and functionality of what you’re cleaning. Give those curtains, shelves and ceilings your focused attention. In ‘70s vernacular, really get into it. Find the zone and stay there until you naturally come out of it, even if the chore is not done yet. You can always return to it when you want.

2. Process is Perfection. Here’s the hard truth. With cleaning, you are never done. There is no finish line. Even as you complete the job, new dust and dirt are settling in. I’m not suggesting we give up cleaning (although I have nothing against hiring someone to help), but an attitude adjustment here would bring some joy to this chore. Revise your goal to enjoy the process of cleaning, rather than just the results. Both are good, but the results are fleeting while the process is not. We are always cleaning something.

3. Seek Help.Drop the ego-pride drama that says a good person cleans perfectly and without help. First, this is not true. Every day teams of folks span out across the planet and clean. Whether they are families pitching in together or uniformed workers pushing buckets and mops, our world from airport restrooms to supermarket aisles are cleaned by people just like you and me. Now maybe this strategy could use some improvement; nothing, after all, is perfect. But then again, neither are we. How can you claim perfection in cleaning when the stove or tub you just scrubbed within an inch of its life will be back to its dirty old self in nanoseconds — unless you live in an Oxyclean tent? But that’s not very Zen.

4. Calling All Angels. This may be a bit out there for some of us, but it can’t hurt. Call on your guardian angel or one of the big dogs, Archangels Michael, Raphael, Uriel or Gabriel, to clean your home. Ask these angels to fill the space with white light (an energy that has an intelligence and life force all its own). Imagine divine white light cleansing and balancing every square inch of your space. For extra cleaning power visualize a triple shield of light using white light for the first layer, followed by a layer of pink light that shields you from negative people, and then a third layer of purple light that gets right into the corner where psychic attacks lurk.

If the angels don’t resonate with you, this visualization of light can be done without them and be just as productive. You will still have to use good-old-fashioned elbow grease to really get your house clean, but I believe in the supernatural, so why limit our mindful intentions to bringing about world peace? We can also ask for worldwide cleanliness, starting of course, in our very own home.